In 2007, Mum's symptoms of dementia first became very noticeable in the form of unusual behaviour such as barricading doors, tying up gates with handkerchiefs, calling the police all the time to imagined intruders and obsessing over her two cats. But even years before that, she'd made bad judgments with money, selling her house to a conwoman for $100,000 less than it was worth and wasting money on employing tradesmen to carry out unnecessary work. She only became seriously forgetful in 2010.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

She hit me again

This afternoon I was trying to show Mum how the plastic medication pack works. She takes vitamins, fish oil, Macuvision and Crampeze - no prescription medications.

Again and again I said, "It is Thursday. You need to open this plastic lid and take the tablets in there." I closed the lid and tried to get her to find Thursday's compartment again.

She couldn't. So I took the vitamin pills out and handed them to her. I said, "Before you go to bed, you have to take the Thursday night pills."

I tried to show her where to find them. I repeated myself over and over again. "It is Thursday today so tonight you need to lift up this lid and take the pills inside there."

She didn't know what I meant. She kept asking where the bottles of vitamins are (I hid them in case she overdoses). She said she'd take them from their original bottles. I said no, you need to take them from this pill container that's labelled with the days.

She's had the pill container for years. She's always used it properly. She's suddenly got much worse.

And then she got really angry and hit me on the arm. It really hurt.

I shouted loudly, 'DON'T HIT ME. IF YOU HIT ME I AM NOT GOING TO LOOK AFTER YOU.'

I am sure the neighbours heard me shout. I was SO upset. I was thinking, how the hell can I take her to live at my place if she is going to get violent every time I try to explain something to her?

1 comment:

hello there-i am from sydney australia and my mother whos is 85 has moderate dementia.she lives in a 2 storey 4 bedroom house by herself which she refuses to leave.i have a brother and sister and we have agreed recently that it may be necessary to force her to leave for supervised care at a nursing home.she thinks nothing is wrong with her and can not see what the fuss is about.she did not want any home care but this has now been provided and she seems to accept.we all visit her when possible and my sister handles business and financial business.my mother has not become aggresive yet and she is taking 2 lots of medication which soothe her anxieties.of course this is a sad and upsetting matter for all of us to see and talk to a person who has a very limited memory.if your mother is becoming aggresive and a danger to herself and your family it may be time she was placed in a supervised care facility.all the best in the future.